Eloped
by livie375
Summary: Hermione turned and glared at her husband, quietly hissing, "This was not how we were going to tell everyone." The Weasley's and Harry find out that Hermione and Sirius got secretly married. One-shot.


"HERMIONE GRANGER WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR FINGER?"

This whole situation was her fault really; she had forgotten to take the damn thing off.

It's not like they would have known about it either. That was her fault too – she had barely even seen them in her year-long absence.

Until an hour ago, when she decided it was time to come home, to see everyone, to tell everyone the news.

"Molly, please listen to me." She grimaced.

When she had first stepped out of the Floo into the Burrow one Sunday afternoon, she was greeted by a moment of stunned silence and twelve shocked faces. Harry was the first one to break out of the speechless trance cast upon the group, hurrying towards her and picking her up in her arms, greeting her with such enthusiasm it made her regret staying away all of these months. Ron was the second, naturally. He was slower, but just as enthusiastic. Hermione, much to her delight and relief, noted the pretty brunette sitting beside him on the loveseat. It would make her announcement much easier, she figured.

She got a suffocating, yet welcome hug from Molly and an energetic one from Ginny, and one from Arthur. Fred and George came bounding over, picking her up and smothering her between them. Charlie and Bill came over for hugs too, with Percy and Fleur giving her an acknowledging nod. She was glad to see everyone present and happy.

See, for the past year, Hermione Granger had taken up residence in the beautiful lavender fields of Provence. In all honesty, she had to admit that the papers were right to an extent when they speculated that she had cowardly runaway. A year after her graduation from Hogwarts, she chose to live in the south of France for reasons unknown to her loved ones. Despite their protests, she said her goodbyes, feebly explaining that she needed a break for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks turned into a couple months, which turned into a year in France.

So far, the visit had been going smoothly. Hermione successfully deflected all questions about France and listened intently to everyone's stories as they caught up. An hour in, someone had finally gotten her to talk about France and as she was talking about the wonderful beaches and waving her hands around like the way she did when she was excited, she was suddenly interrupted.

The large rock on Hermione's ring finger had caught the light whilst also catching the focus of the Weasley matriarch.

Before she could explain herself or anyone could confront her further on the subject, the Floo suddenly lit up.

When Hermione saw the man walking – swaggering was more accurate – through the emerald flames, she rolled her eyes. He always had a flair for the dramatic.

"Miss me?" He opened his arms wide and beamed.

Everyone was silent for much longer than for Hermione's unexpected arrival. She figured it was the shock of getting a surprise visit from not only one, but two recent absentees. Also because this visitor had been absent for far longer than Hermione had been. Harry was, once again, the first one to hug the dark-haired man. Hugs and greetings followed until, ten minutes later, he was sprawled beside Hermione on the small couch.

No one seemed to notice that she didn't hug or greet him, or the wink he sent her, or the dirty look she threw him that said: _I know exactly what you're doing_.

Once everyone was sitting comfortably, Fred spoke up, "Of course we want to know about your adventures, but we had just noticed that large rock on Hermy's finger."

"Oh, that thing." He said after a moment, and gave everyone a teasing smile, "What, you guys don't like my taste?"

Ah yes, Sirius Black, the very man responsible for the diamond in the first place.

Hermione had left England for many reasons. Everything, quite simply, became too much for her. The pressure coming from Ron and Molly to settle down with him, the pressure of being the _great Hermione Granger,_ the pressure to be the best she could be from _everyone_. It just all became too much for her; she had to get away for a while. She chose the south of France, escaping to a small magical community.

Sirius Black had been absent from England as well. No one knew his current location at any given moment, since he never stayed in the same place more than a week. He had come back from the Veil in the middle of the Golden Trio's eight year. Everyone – especially Harry – was ecstatic, but living at 1_2 __Grimmauld Place_was not enough for Sirius. He wanted something else, determined to travel the world until he found it.

When they had bumped into each other in France, both were too shocked for words at first. That quickly changed, as they soon become friends. He settled down in France, staying with her in her tiny flat for five months. Except that, by the end, he wasn't exactly staying as her friend anymore . . .

Hence the diamond on her finger.

Hermione wanted to hex that smug expression off his face but she had more pressing matters to deal with – such as Ron's steadily reddening face, the stunned faces' of the Weasley clan, and Harry and Molly's glazed over eyes.

"WHAT?" Molly suddenly screeched, earning a wince from everyone in the crowded living room.

Hermione turned and glared at her husband, quietly hissing, "This was _not_ how we were going to tell everyone."

"It had to come out eventually, Love." He smirked at her and threw his arm over the back of the couch.

She rolled her eyes at his smug, arrogant attitude. She knew who he was when she married him, so really, she wasn't surprised. Turning to address the group, she said calmly, "Well, I guess you all know now. This was not how we were going to tell you." She paused and took a deep breath, "Sirius and I are married. We met in France a few months ago –"

"Five." Sirius interrupted. He shrugged at her accusatory glare, "Just making sure you've got your facts straight, Hun."

"Yes, five months, thank you Sirius." She gave him one last dirty look before focusing on the group. "We got married a month ago. We were planning on telling you guys sooner, but time slipped away from us . . ." She paused, training her eyes specifically on her best friend, "We're terribly sorry. We should have told you all sooner."

Nobody said anything for a few heavy moments.

Molly looked like she was grappling for the right words to rightly describe her disgust at the heinous act she was witnessing, something to truly capture her disappointment. The age difference, living with each other before marriage! She shook her head.

Ron looked ready to explode. Hermione inwardly groaned; had she really just thought a minute ago that he had moved on?

Harry looked lost, like he didn't really know how to think. It broke Hermione's heart. She wanted to comfort him, but couldn't unfreeze herself.

Fred and George raised their glasses in a silent salute, twin smirks gracing their features.

Ginny grinned at Hermione, promising many revealing talks later.

"You guys should have told us." Harry set his jaw determinedly, his gaze turning colder.

Hermione saw Sirius's confident expression slip off his face; she knew the only person, besides herself, whose opinion mattered to him was Harry.

"Harry –" He began.

"I guess we should make a toast though, shouldn't we?" Harry interrupted, his face going soft and forming a small, tentative smile. He held up his glass.

Harry's approval broke the ice around the room. Everyone – sans Molly and Ron, naturally – slowly, one by one, raised their glasses to Sirius and Hermione.

Hermione could have cried from her relief. She smiled brightly at Harry, silently thanking him. Harry nodded in acknowledgement.

"Good luck mate – you're gonna need it!" Fred and George yelled in tandem to Sirius.

"Hey!" Hermione said indignantly. Sirius pulled her closer, tucked her under his arm and kissed her head.

He whispered not to listen to them into Hermione's hair, but smirked conspiratorially to the twins.

Although she was waiting with bated breath for Molly and Ron's reactions, she knew it wouldn't affect her much anyways.

She had Harry's approval; that was all she needed. And she didn't even need that, because she would have stayed with Sirius anyways. She loved Harry like her own brother and might have respected his wishes had he disapproved of them a couple of months ago, but now, she knew she couldn't. She loved Sirius more than she thought she ever could love anyone. Although she felt guilt for marrying Sirius when Ron had asked her months prior and she had told him she wasn't ready, she knew that she and Ron weren't meant to be like her and Sirius. Had she not been 100 percent committed to Sirius and ready to marry him, she never would have married him after a mere five months.

"'Mione, how do you feel about having a ceremony here, with Harry and everyone?" He whispered into her ear.

She looked up at him and smiled sweetly, "If you want to, then yes, I guess we can arrange that." Her smile turned into a smirk, "But you have to wear a tuxedo, alright? Those are my only terms."

"Alright, Mrs. Black." He grinned.

She huffed, "I'll always be a Granger, Sirius, don't forget that."

He pulled on her until she was smiling in his lap, "You'll always be mine."

"Always," Hermione whispered and kissed Sirius, temporarily forgetting all about the audience around them.

But then she heard Molly and Ron matching yells of protest.

It was nice to be back.

…

**Thank you for reading!**


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